Bergoglio: “Carnage at sea needs to stop, it’s shameful”

Fondazione Migrantes, an Italian Catholic foundation which offers assistance to refugees has sent out an appeal to the European Union: “A Conference needs to be held like the one on the Middle East”

Giacomo Galeazzivatican city

“Speaking about peace and about the inhumane global economic crisis, a serious symptom of the lack of respect for humanity, I cannot but remember with immense pain, the numerous victims of the umpteenth tragic shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa,” Pope Francis said, speaking off-the-cuff during an audience with participants of a conference on Encyclical “Pacem in Terris” written by John XXIII 50 years ago. “It is shameful,” Bergoglio repeated as participants applauded.

“Let us pray to God together for those who have lost their lives: men, women and children, for their families and for all refugees. Let us join forces to ensure this tragic incident is not repeated. Only if everyone acts together in a determined way can we help prevent this,” the Pope went on to say.

Francis prayed for the “victims of the tragic shipwreck off the coast of [the Italian island of] Lampedusa”. The Church has asked the European Union to do intervene and stop the holocaust that is taking place in the Mediterranean Sea. “A European Conference needs to be held in order to awaken people’s conscience to this dramatic situation, a conference like the one on the Middle East which Giorgio La Pira (a deceased Italian politician who served as deputy of the Christian Democratic Party, Ed.) had wanted to organise. If politicians do not take hold of the situation, human traffickers will. I think it is therefore important to reinforce European policy which should introduce new assistance programmes and decentralised cooperation.” This is according to the director of Fondazione Migrantes, Mgr. Gian Carlo Perego, who commented on the maritime tragedy at Lampedusa. More than 80 bodies have been found so far and around 250 people are missing.

“These deaths are the result of a serious situation in the world that has been neglected. The 22 wars that are currently being fought are proof of this and our countries are playing a key role in them.” Hence the importance of “organising a European conference that can become a reference point for Europe to become a protagonist in assisting the people who set out to sea and die in the Mediterranean,” Mgr. Perego said before the presentation of the Rapporto Italiani nel Mondo (Italians in the world) report in St. Martha’s House in the Vatican. “To allow refugees to continue dying at sea is a shameful and criminal act. Innocent lives must be saved!” Jesuit priest Giovanni La Manna said. “It’s good that [Italy’s President] Giorgio Napolitano and [Italian Prime Minister] Enrico Letta have sent their condolences but actions needs to be taken; the EU needs to be persuaded to establish safe humanitarian channels to save the lives of refugees,” the Jesuit wrote.

“The news has aroused feelings of sadness and indignation because we cannot go on counting deaths as if we were mere witnesses,” said the Archbishop of Agrigento and President of the Episcopal Commission for Migration, Mgr. Francesco Montenegro, in a statement to the Italian Episcopal Conference’s Religious Information Service SIR. His comment was in response to the tragic sinking of a boat full of immigrants off the coast of Lampedusa. “The stories of those who set out on a journey are interwoven with our own stories and therefore interest us,” Mgr. Montenegro added. “Pope Francis asked us whether the deaths of these immigrants have brought tears to our eyes. This is why we cannot just keep count of these deaths or sit back and passively watch them happen.”